"Why don't we save time and you just tell me what I want?"
"Because, Alec, that would defeat the entire point of gift giving at Christmas!" Max huffed at him in the middle of Terminal City.
"I didn't say to tell me what you got me, just tell me what I want!"
"Alec, don't play that game with me! We both know that you meant that you want me to tell you what I got you for Christmas!"
Newcomers walked away quickly, fearing the response that they could receive for eavesdropping. Mole, Gem, Dix, and a few others who had been around when they first declared their independence, circled around the two with grins on their faces. The bickering went on and on and on in the background. Mole had a crooked grin on his face, his eyes lively and focused on the scene taking place before him. Gem choked back a giggle as Alec got down on bended knee, begging Max to tell him.
Gem sighed a moment, biting back a chuckle. "Why can't the just get along? This happens every year! For once, I wish we would have a normal, peaceful Christmas!"
Mole sputtered. "What the hell are you talking about? I look forward to this every year; it's the only thing that makes this retched human holiday tolerable!"
Gem frowned "Christmas is supposed to be about love and family, not what presents you get or what entertains you!"
Mole shook his head, suddenly calm. "I disagree. It's all about what entertains me; when I'm entertained, I'm not teaching your daughter how to curse in 18 different languages."
Gem opened her mouth to argue before pausing and falling silent, deciding to count her blessings. Hope, now 6, had only just stopped calling people a variety of different swear words which she didn't even dare think lest her daughter, by some chance, pick up on them again.
"Please!" This was drawn out, loud and imploringly, from Alec who had begun to collect tears in his eyes.
"No! Damn it Alec, we go through this every year! You don't get to open Christmas presents until Christmas morning, as in when the bright shiny ball comes up into the sky!"
Max was backing away from him warily, holding the garishly wrapped package behind her. Alec looked past her, a crazy look in his eye. He stood, the tears now completely gone from his eyes. His eyes zeroed in on the package behind her, his body starting to thrum with energy.
"No, Alec.... Alec, think this through! You don't want to do this! You like being surprised, remember? Alec, are you listening? Alec..."
Mole uncrossed his arms and stood straighter at attention, a grin taking over his face. "Oh yeah, here it comes....The thing I wait for every year..."
Gem sighed and shifted so Hope could rest her head onto her right shoulder. "Here we go again..."
Max crouched herself down, coiling her body tightly. Alec's eyes wandered away from the package and towards Max's own, a devilish smirk taking over his features. The moment his eyes met hers, Max knew it was now or never and bolted in the opposite direction, Alec hot on her heels.
Mole roared with laughter as Max blurred through the streets of Terminal City, Alec chasing her like a horse with a carrot tied to it's head and rigged to dangle in front of it's nose.
CRASH! "Oooooo....." There was a collective wince and groan from the group, feeling sympathy for whoever had just collided into something. They saw Max swing her self onto the skyway platform and continue running, though Alec was no longer in sight. Mole frowned, wondering where Alec was. He didn't give up this early or this easy, usually. Max stopped running once she reached the entrance, looking around as though she was very confused.
BOOM! An explosion went off and Max lost her balance, tumbling forward slightly she lost her grip on the package and it went flying on to the ground below. Or rather, it would have had Alec not come out of nowhere and grabbed it in mid-leap. Max stood at the top of the skyway, her hands on her hips in her trademark stance and shook her head slowly, as though very disappointed.
Alec always got a little crazy around the holidays, though it really was Max's fault... Mole could remember the first collective Christmas held in T.C., and how Alec first became holiday-crazed. It had started off simply enough, really, with everyone in the Council agreeing to do a gift exchange. It had been almost unanimously decided that Terminal City could use a bit of good cheer since the first few months of their siege had gone so terribly. So, with an army of volunteers (literally) Max and Alec set about turning Terminal City into an epitome of Christmas spirit.
Trees were decorated, gifts made or bought with what people could afford, and Max had even persuaded (though, in Mole's honest opinion, frightened or threatened would have been better verbs to describe how Max had gone about doing it) people into forming a caroling group. Alec had scored some old Christmas classics and had them playing in rotation for day before, during, and after Christmas. Mini-Max, who was Max's sister Jace's son, had cleverly pointed out that Mole resembled the Grinch in more ways than one and was given a stern talking to by Max (well, as stern as the talk could get seeing as Max was in tears herself, that is).
But Mole had no problem with it, really. He thought it entirely appropriate and happily took up the mantle of T.C.'s Grinch (which really didn't work since Hope, who was T.C.'s resident Cindy-lew-who, was around him almost constantly). But this wasn't his story, it was Alec's. Mole could still remember the look on Alec's face when Max had presented him with a gift. He had this look of consternation, utter confusion, as though he had expected her to get him a key-chain.
Max got everyone on the council something, a sign of goodwill as she put it. The thing was with Max, she got everyone one thing, and one thing only, but they were always the things that everybody wanted the most. Well, materially speaking anyway. Mole had received a crate of Cuban cigars from Max every year, a tradition she called it now. Gem had gotten a working Ipod with speakers so Gem wouldn't have to spend hours singing to get Hope to sleep. Dix always got the newest computer part he was hankering for, no matter how rare or difficult it was to find.
Alec had watched everyone open their gifts and finally turned his attention towards his own. It was small, smaller than the others by far, and it was more simply wrapped. It looked like it had been a jewelry box at one point in time, before it had been painted green and wrapped in a gold bow. Everyone was talking, and no one paying attention to a word they were saying. Their eyes were all on Alec as he opened his gift. In the box, was a piece of paper. A really, really tiny piece of paper, like half the size of a fortune cookie fortune. He casually looked up at Max, one eyebrow cocked, before unfolding it.
His expression changed instantly, shock was prevalent, layering over excitement. His eyes drifted back and forth from the paper to Max, who was standing roughly five feet away in her trademark stance, head cocked to the side and one eyebrow raised as if to say 'Well?' It had taken Alec all of 4 seconds after that to leap out of his chair, abandoning both box and paper, to pick Max up off the ground and kiss her senseless. All at once, everyone else dove for the slip of paper, though Mole was the one who managed to get a hold of it. All it said was 'Yes'.
After that, Alec had dared Max every year to try and come up with a gift that could out do the one he had received for his first present, and Max being Max told him that she gladly would. So, every year since that day, roughly 6 years later Max always teased Alec that she had found a gift to top her accepting his proposal. Mole had heard Alec admit, far out of Max's ear shot of course, that she had gotten him some pretty damn nice things and that, if he wasn't so completely in love with her, they would have topped every other gift given ever. Alec, regardless of his teasing ways, adamantly refused to believe that anything would ever top it.
Mole, shaking himself out of his reverie, watched as Alec took his sweet and precious time opening this year's Christmas present. The lid to it came off and Alec eagerly peered inside, before his face turned into one of confusion. He cocked his head to the side as though trying to figure out a puzzle before trying any of the pieces. Slowly he pulled out several different items, placing them near each other in separate piles. Ear plugs, miniscule silverware, speakers, two pints of blue paint, two soft fleece blankets...it all came out of the box. He frowned in confusion, ready to put the lid back on when he spotted something lying in the bottom of the box. They were two tiny t-shirts that looked like someone had stuck them in a washer and shrunk them.
Alec's face froze for a moment, the same look that he had worn 6 years ago, this time mixed with fascination. He laid the t-shirts out next to the rest of the items, not even looking at the items a second time. Max smiled at him from the bottom of the stairwell, leaning precariously against the wall. Alec bounded over with shouts of joy and hoisted her into his arms, nuzzling her neck and quite literally purring. Gem and Mole looked at each other briefly before walking over to see what the fuss was about. The shirts had sayings on them, both in bold white print. One said 'My parents were obviously hot!' and the other said 'Gimme the damn black crayon already! I've only got 10 minutes till assault training!'
They looked at each other again before looking at Max and Alec, who were happily cuddled and kissing under some mistletoe.
Mole chewed his lip for a minute before lighting a cigar and taking a deep breath. His eyes wandered to the t-shirts again for a moment before saying "Gem, those kids are screwed."